[sunnyorlando]

Hello - So my '11 Wee is having its first issue -
Has anyone her experienced any similar issues?
I am having an problems with my fuel gauge and/or sending unit. At just under 2k miles now, my fuel gauge has become highly inaccurate. In the last 2 tanks the first bar did NOT go off until I had less than 1 gal. This has become progressively worse over the past 4 tanks or so...
The first time I noticed something was not right was when I filled up at one
point and it took way less than expected - the indicator was showing less fuel than actually available. No so bad, the opposite of what happening now.
Then it went the other way - now I fill up by miles as I cannot trust the gauge - fueling appx 4.5 gal into it when it still has 4 bars. Very inaccurate - not that I expect precision, but I do expect some feeling of real measurement. I have never had this issue before after many bikes, new and used over the years.
So I took it to the dealer. They saw the issue - they called Suzuki, and they
are making the dealer jump through testing hoops: empty tank, measure Ohms, put it 1 gal, measure Ohms, more fuel, take fuel out... Measure, test this and that - you get the picture. All this though its visibly obvious that the gauge says full and the tank is almost empty. Now I need to take it in again for yet another follow up. And then IF they agree something is not right, they will order a part... for another visit.
Suzuki's first response is that "...fuel gauges are not meant to keep accurate
fuel usage.." For real - its about 60% inaccurate.
What does Suzuki consider acceptable on this issue? Who knows - they are OK with an error margin of 10 to 12% on the speedo. So at 25k miles, my bike will read ~27k +/- miles. At least there is no mileage on the warranty.
As to the fuel, my bet is that's the sending unit - but the dealer shop manager is thinking it could be the instrument cluster. To this he says "... if I
order that and it does not correct the issue, you will have to pay for it
because I cannot return it to Suzuki..."
Unfortunately there are very few Suz dealers in area, and the closest one is
this one where I bough it - and its ~35 mi. The others are more than 1hr away.
So its not like I can be going to other (conveniently) for opinions or better
service.
I am becoming very disappointed in Suzuki - not stand-up in customer service - so far.

Jaime
sunnyorlando

 

[richw]

Have the dealer give you the name of the Suzuki rep they deal with and bitch at him/her directly. Then copy him and a letter to Suzuki corporate.

Mine is non linear its almost 1/2 when the first bar goes out the bottom 3 bars are the lower 1/2.

Being old I just set trip 1 and get gas at 160 for the Vee

They should be able to test it with resistors back to the ECU instead of playing with the gas.

I might also suggest that the connector the ground 12+ etc of that plug be checked as the same 3 wires run your fuel pump.

 

[PTRider]

Read the fine print in your warranty. Find the section that refers to mechanical problems and use that language with the dealership service manager. The gas gauge doesn't have to be 100% accurate, but it should be relatively close and must be consistent. Yours isn't.

Don't begin to tell the service manager how to fix it. Just tell him that it needs to be fixed and let him decide what to do. If he's wrong, it is his problem with the unneeded parts. If you don't get action, talk with the dealership general manager or owner. If that doesn't help, ask the general manager to put you in touch with the Suzuki factory rep. American Suzuki customer service will probably tell you to deal with your local dealer, but contacting them can't hurt. Explain that the dealer is not fixing your problem and you need American Suzuki's help with expert advice to the dealer. As always, be business-courteous, be concise, and make them want to help you, not just get rid of you-the-pesky-customer.

American Suzuki MC/ATV Customer Service
P.O. BOX 1100
Brea, CA 92822
Customer Service at 714-572-1490

 

[Twill1356]

...So I took it to the dealer. They saw the issue - they called Suzuki, and they
are making the dealer jump through testing hoops: empty tank, measure Ohms, put it 1 gal, measure Ohms, more fuel, take fuel out... Measure, test this and that - you get the picture. All this though its visibly obvious that the gauge says full and the tank is almost empty. Now I need to take it in again for yet another follow up. And then IF they agree something is not right, they will order a part... for another visit...

Jaime
sunnyorlando

Maybe it's just me, I don't know, but that doesn't sound like bad service, they are following a troubleshooting flow chart. Let it run it's course. It seems your patience is running out and I understand that, but unless I'm missing something it doesn't sound like the dealer or Suzuki has been horrible so far. Give them a chance.

 

[desert_rider]

On mine, the first bar doesn't drop off until it hits about 90 miles, then it's fairly constant until it hits empty. My Chevy truck does the same thing, stays on full the drops off drastically on the last 1/2 tank.

I don't really worry about it, it's not worth the fight for such a common problem, and too many bigger issues to deal with, (like what's for lunch, and is my bladder going to make it any farther). I start looking for gas at 200 miles and don't really worry until 220-240.

 

[cbrxxcess]

They seem to be trying and they are not blowing you off. See if they proceed and mom Suzuki has not told them to do that then they do not get paid. They are just waiting on mom to tell them what to do to ensure that they get paid for their time. Don't be surprised though when the best you get is the first bar dropping off at 90 to 100, the second at 150-160, then losing one every 20 miles or so after that. The gauges are not the most accurate. I use my trip meter for my fill ups.

 

[Midnight]

My '11 seems fairly accurate. I always need slightly less on fill ups than I think, but my car does that too.

Your case is more worrying. I hope you find a fix, but if not, using the trip meter, while annoying, is most accurate. My wee is the first bike I have had with a fuel gauge, and I still find myself counting klicks between fill ups.

 

[DougInKY]

My '11 seems fairly accurate. I always need slightly less on fill ups than I think, but my car does that too.

Give it another year and it will most likely start acting like most of ours, 90 miles for 1st bar and then pretty rapidly after that.

 

[Benly]

My 2011 Wee's bars drop off at the mileages below fairly consistently, although that are not linear.

All on 0 mi
1st off 105 mi
2nd off 145 mi
3rd off 195 mi
4th off 215 mi
5th blink 240 mi

 

[coveter]

Mine's consistent with all the rest of the posts here. I never saw it as a problem, though. I think it's all in the way you look at it. I never expected the reading to be an accurate measure of the amount of gas in the tank but just an indication of how much I should worry about it.

5 bars - No worries, you're good to go
4 bars - You've taken a little off the top, but still good to go
3 bars - A couple more days of commuting left
2 bars - Don't start any gas station-less adventures
1 bar - Stop when you see one
Flashing - Make a special trip
Double-flashing - If you get stranded there's no one to blame but yourself

 

[Heavy-H]

Mine's consistent with all the rest of the posts here. I never saw it as a problem, though. I think it's all in the way you look at it. I never expected the reading to be an accurate measure of the amount of gas in the tank but just an indication of how much I should worry about it.

5 bars - No worries, you're good to go
4 bars - You've taken a little off the top, but still good to go
3 bars - A couple more days of commuting left
2 bars - Don't start any gas station-less adventures
1 bar - Stop when you see one
Flashing - Make a special trip
Double-flashing - If you get stranded there's no one to blame but yourself

I agree..........

 

[BobA]

Mine's non-linear too. It usually takes over 100 miles to get rid of the first bar, then less and less to get rid of each of the others.

Though I do use the gas gauge to tell me when I need to fill up, I still use the odometer to double check (none of my previous bikes had a fuel gauge).

When I hit around 230 miles, I expect one bar and a fashing symbol and it's time to refill it. I seem to have maybe 1 to 1.5 gallons left when it hits one bar since a typical fill at that point is maybe 4.5 gallons.

 

[Chuck_U_Farley]

Mine's non-linear too. It usually takes over 100 miles to get rid of the first bar, then less and less to get rid of each of the others.

Though I do use the gas gauge to tell me when I need to fill up, I still use the odometer to double check (none of my previous bikes had a fuel gauge).

When I hit around 230 miles, I expect one bar and a fashing symbol and it's time to refill it. I seem to have maybe 1 to 1.5 gallons left when it hits one bar since a typical fill at that point is maybe 4.5 gallons.

Mine K7 does the same thing and now that I've got a handle on what the average mpg is I just use the trip meter. My beemer would not show full even when fuel level was topped off so I'm guessing building accurate fuel gauges has become a lost art.

 

[bjgolly]

fuel gauge

My 06 did the right thing for 50k plus then occasionaly would hang up and show way more gas than odo showed as used. One double shot of Seafoam got it back on track with in 100 miles. The new wave "snake oil"

 

[GP1K]

Sounds like mine is on par with the average optimistic readout, though it does seem to be consistent in it's optimism. I also always use Trip 1 for fill-ups, that is my true gas gauge.

 

[Weehemoth]

I have the same problem. Diagnostics couldn't find out why. I threw in the towel and now I always fill to the brim and reset the tripmeter to zero at each fillup. I can go 250-300 km on about 3/4 tank.

 

[altonabout]

Mine had been consistent with the rest of the posts until I had the tank off to run some wires for an aux fuse box. I wanted to tidy up the wiring from various farkles. Since then I no longer have the first bar, or it will stay on after a fillup for only a mile or two. Then it goes to the second bar for about 100-115 miles. I'm somewhat annoyed, but not enough to take it to the dealer. I just use the tripometer like I've done in the past.
Mike

 

[paturoa]

On my wee

180km - 4 bars (180)
280km - 3 bars (100)
350km - 2 bars (70)
400km - 1 bar (50)

It is consistent but seriously not linear.

 

[ozart]

Here's the approximate fuel left in my tank at the moment each bar disappears, assuming I did a complete fill and a 5.7 gallon tank.

Top bar gone - 3.80 gal remaining
2nd bar gone - 2.90 remains
3rd bar gone - 1.95 remains
4th bar gone - 1.4 remains (gas pump icon blinking)
5th bar flashing - 1 gallon left

These numbers have been very consistant, can't say the same for my fuel mileage.

another way of looking at it ...
top bar = ~2 gallons
2nd bar = ~1 gallon
3rd bar = ~1 gallon
4th bar = ~1/2 gallon (gas pump icon starts blinking)
5th bar = ~1/2 gallon (bar flashing)
~0.7 gallon remains

 

[BobA]

Where is the fuel level sensor?

I finally found the fuel level sensor data in the manual.

After working with some numbers from this thread and the resistance values in the manual it turns out the the number of bars illuminated is proportional to the logarithm of the amount of fuel remaining. This would appear to be intentional. The number of gallons remaining is also a logarithmic function of the sensor resistance Measured between the B/W and Y/B wires of the fuel pump).

It wouldn't be particularly difficult to make a digital "gallons left" meter. Easy with a programmable controller. Probably not worth the effort though. For me the odometer is fine.